2018 FORECAST PLACES CORN PRICES BELOW $4.00 PER BUSHEL

Lindsay Mitchell

Jul 10, 2017  |  Today's News |  Additional Research

According to the University of Illinois, farmers planning for 2018 cash rents and acreage allocations can safely plan on corn prices of $3.80 and soybean prices of $9.50.  These are based on trend yields, future price levels, and long-term forecasts by USDA, Food and Agricultural Research Institute, and Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

 

A $3.80 price for corn would continue a series of corn prices below $4.00 per bushel that began in 2014.  This is assuming that 2017 price averages below $4.00 which could be a premature assumption as yields could still vary from the trend. 

 

Actual prices in 2018 have a large possibility of being different from these 2018 price projections. As has often happened in the past, some combination of events could lead to prices that differ from forecasts. Until those events materialize, using a $3.80 corn price and $9.50 soybean price for 2018 seems reasonable.

 

Read the full article: Schnitkey, G. "2018 Planning Prices for Corn and Soybeans." farmdoc daily (7):121, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, July 6, 2017.